New Zealand CSP Chorus Extends Relationship with Nokia

Chorus and Nokia (News - Alert) last year formed a five-year technology partnership through which the vendor is providing managed services related to analysis and monitoring of the service provider’s fiber wholesale and nationwide copper networks. They have now announced an extension of their relationship for three years. This is in an effort to support investment in New Zealand’s ultra-high-speed broadband infrastructure.

The deal involves the use of Nokia’s broadband access, IP routing, and optical transport solutions to increase broadband capacity for New Zealanders.

The partners have already made a good amount of headway, as the average broadband connection on the Chorus network is now 27Mbps. That’s compared to the 10Mbps it was in 2012.

The service provider is also seeing an increase in subscriptions as part of their work. One in three New Zealanders now subscribe to unlimited data plans. That’s an increase of more than 300 percent from last year, according to the companies. The carrier supports its broadband services via its copper-based VDSL2 and fiber-based GPON FTTH networks.

The New Zealand Post and Telegraph Department was formed in 1881. Chorus was established in 2008 as the telecom business unit of that organization. The company went public on the New Zealand stock exchange in late 2011. And the company today is New Zealand’s largest telecommunications infrastructure company.

Of course, Nokia provides infrastructure for major telcos around the world. But the communication services providers that began life as telcos are just one group to which Nokia caters.

The company also addresses the needs of CSPs that began life as cable TV companies. In fact Nokia earlier this month revealed that it’s been working on technology that promises to enable 10Gbps symmetrical bandwidth on cableco hybrid fiber/coax network infrastructure. That technology, called XG-CABLE, is now in prototype form but is positioned to help cablecos more effectively meet bandwidth demand created by the rise of HD video, live video streaming, real-time gaming, and virtual or augmented reality.